Ridgers and crimpers in perfect harmony (it won't last!)
Ridgers arrayed to fight for the 'upper crust'!.
Crimpers ready to defend the 'side of crusts everywhere'!.
I have colour coded the armies and units to make them easy to distinguish on the table (they are bloody small). I can tell them apart due to the arrangement of the bases but if I'm doing battle reports I think the coding will help. I will explain all when I write up the first game (soon....honest!).
Also I received a nice new bunch of shiny miniatures for another planned campaign.
It's a shiny wonderland!!!!
It's a 'small' pile of 10mm Pendracken renaissance miniatures...I may have plans. I decided I could run my pastry based campaign while painting the above so I can seamlessly bounce from the conclusion of one to the start of the next....what could possibly go wrong?. Here's my first attempt at painting some of the above:
The flags are my first attempt at hand painted banners, I think they turned out ok (also you can hide mistakes by rippling them the right way to hide them!). Hopefully I will have some more units done for my next post......
I have often seen it said on many forums and suchlike that 2mm minis look like they would be hard to paint. This in fact is not the case at all. 2mm armies are pretty easy to get table ready. I thought I would offer my method for painting them to show how easy it can be. But first:
About time for some pistols!.
Before I start there are a few things I need to clear up. I am no expert painter, I have had a bit of experience with several scales of mini but would class my skill level as 'enthusiastic amature'. Also I don't use miniature paints, instead I use craft paints that I adapt for miniatures (you can see the Method here) so I won't be giving the names of paint colours I have used (so no 'giant death badger grey' or 'demon semen purple' or whatever). I have painted a few 2mm forces so feel I have a decent handle on getting reasonable result with them.
Also it's worth pointing out that I find one of these helpful.
It's a magnifying daylight lamp, I find it useful but not essential. I picked mine up for less than £20 on line.
Now the elephant in the room: 'Why use 2mm minis?'. The main reason they work so well for me is threefold. One, they allow you to get truly realistic looking armies on the table. You can actually work in a 1:1 scale if you want!. Secondly they are very affordable, you can get a really large army for under £20!. Thirdly they are quick and simple to prep, paint and get on the table. You can put aside a weekend to produce a whole army!.
So to painting the little blighters!. The main things to remember are that you are painting for mass effect. You are not producing this:
(Picture nicked off Google images. If it's yours please make it known in the comments so I can credit you)
You are making this happen!:
Or maybe this:
Also keep in mind you are not painting minis that will look neat up close. This is about the look of massed units on the table at arms length, if you want to hold them close and inspect them you will be disappointed, once they are based and on the table they look pretty good in my opinion anyway.
Right now that's covered, on to the prep. Most of the minis will need a quick file to smooth off the underside of the bases and may have some flash and mold lines to deal with. These are pretty easy to file down. Then the minis are bluetacked to a lolly stick ready for undercoating.
I tend to use a dark brown undercoat on my medievals, in this scale I also use the same brown on the bases so it works to create shade even at this early stage.
I brush on my undercoat at this scale, you could use a spray can or air brush but as the miniatures are so small I find brushing is fine.
The miniatures I am painting are going to be used to represent dismounted Knights so my next step is to dry brush them silver. This gives an underlayer of plate armour on each figure but preserves the brown undercoat between each figure giving the shading I mentioned above.
If I was painting troops further down the social scale such as leve troops or archers I would go lighter with the silver dry brush, I would also keep the bottom half brown to give them an impression of wearing less armour.
Next step is to paint the banners white so when painted they stand out.
Once they are dry I then paint the banners. I am using these troops for a fantasy campaign so my banner designs are made up, it is possible to paint reasonably detailed designs with a steady hand and good point. I then start to paint the Knights by adding dots of colour to the chests and backs to represent sir coats and shields. Keep in mind the minis are really small so dots are the best you are going to get.
Banners and banner coloured sir coats painted.
I then finish the stage by adding dots of contrasting colours sparingly to make the minis 'pop'.
At this stage all the painting is done. The next stage is to shade them. I use a thin coat of army painter soft tone just to emphasize the space between the figures and slightly tone down the brightest colours. It's important to keep the shade light so you don't loose the tones.
And that's the minis ready.
To base the units I use card bases. Cereal boxes work fine, you don't need thick card at this scale as there is very little weight to the finished units. I do back the card with tape (any kind will work) just to add some strength. The bases I am using for this project are 6cm X 3cm.
The bases are first painted with the same shade of brown used to undercoat the miniatures. Once dry the miniatures are stuck to the base using PVA glue.
To finish the bases I make a mix of green paint, builders sand and PVA. This mix needs to be course to allow you to create textured ground on the base. Brush it on where you want and try to create clumps to give the impression of thick foliage in some places. I like to sprinkle some of the sand on the mix where it's thickest to create some contrast.
The completed unit....and proof I get more paint on my hands than the sodding miniatures!!.
The whole process is really quick. The drying time between stages are minimal due to the size of the miniatures meaning you can create a whole army in the time it takes to paint a unit in 28mm scale. It's also not about precision, the miniatures are more detailed than they have any right to be for the size of them but if you slip with the brush or go outside the lines it's not noticeable on the table and most of the time the ink wash corrects any minor issues anyway.
An army ready for battle. The whole force represents about a days worth of work.
Anyway, hopefully this post has been helpful. If you are looking at using 2mm scale for a project please don't listen to the 'they look hard to paint' brigade. Get a few bits and have a go. You will be pleasantly surprised.
Arfa Job that is. I appear to have started a few bits but so far not managed to finish any...sort of...
But first:
Let's all have a nice bit of the Clash shall we?.
This is a bit odd, it's been a week since my last post. Normally this would be a perfectly acceptable amount of time between posts, but with the current happenings about the place it feels like an absolute age!. I have been busy however.
I started by clearing out the conservatory here at Chez Sprinks', that has up until now be affectionately known as 'the shitehole'. Every house has a room or space of some kind that becomes the designated dumping area, a place where things that come under the loose heading of 'iwillworkoutwheretoputitinthefardistantfuture'are placed awaiting 're-distribution' some time or another. Well round this gaff it was the good old conservatory. This has now been gutted, cleaned and transformed into an area featuring a sofa, dart board and one of those 5 in 1 games tables for the kids
This type of thing.
Which by a startling coincidence gives me a rather handy surface for gaming on that also happens to have best natural light in the house.
You will be pleased to note that I have taken immediate advantage of this!.
The new board has been christened and 6mm forces blooded. This was ment to be for a battle report but my phone battery had other ideas and gave up the ghost as things started to get interesting!. The game was a test game for some new rules for the forces I am putting together which I have yet to write. I will hopefully soon get them down and post them in whatever state they are in. The plan being I will edit, change and adapt them as they are tested.
Also I have started work on my next 6mm force for my
Project, where I am attempting to put together discarded forces from the early days of Warhammer. The next force being:
They very much vanished by 4th edition, various sea themed elf types continued in the lore but sea elves as a thing were gone. Now I'm not a huge elf fan but I can get behind an elf merchant company aggressively opening new markets and protecting trade routes and generally being a bit more hands on and down to earth than the aloof elves of the rest of the Warhammer canon. So I have got an irregular miniatures 6mm elf army pack and have been working through it, this is the sum of my efforts so far:
The gang as things stand.
The core of spears and archers.
Some scouts, known as Seekers in 3rd edition. As they are ment to range ahead of the main force I went with clothing that would let them blend in to the settings flora.
I even had a bash at a camo pattern on their capes. Not sure I pulled it off but at 6mm who's going to know?. Hopefully I will have the force table ready soon.
With all the time on my hands it has to be said I am making great headway into completing my 6mm Slann army, but first:
3 angry nerds and a drum machine, what's not to like?.
My 6mm Slann army for my
Project are coming along at a fair old clip, today I managed to complete all the forces skirmishers as well as a bit of a skinthammer piece I have been planning since I ordered the minis for the force (and I nicked it from the Sprinklings sssshhhh). Heres today's output:
How I spent my Sunday.
4 bases of slingers.
Slann are only known for one missile weapon in Warhammer, namely the blowpipe. However as I am using historical minis to build the army I am using what's available. So my force is using slings instead. So there!.
Venom tribe warriors, described in canon as 'distinguished by their slightly smaller size and by their red and black patterning'. 'By an adaptation of nature these Slann exude a poisonous mucus which enables them to poison their weapons' ( taken from Warhammer armies)
they seem like a fun troop type to use in the army. On a practical note the figures were a pig to work with. I have heard negative murmurings about irregular miniatures 6mm range but have found it to be fine and rather charming. However these sculpts seemed to be really hard to decipher the details on, making painting a frustrating guessing game at times.
When I was planning the army I decided I had to have a big beastie or two , luckily being a parent there were loads of cheep plastic dinosaurs knocking around the sprinkling toy boxes they would never miss!. This army is loosely based around 1st to 3rd edition Warhammer Slann army lists, however I have always had a soft spot for these fellas:
Not the lizard men types, the ruddy great Dinosaur!!!!. So I had to have one in the army. I was going to build a howadah but in the end couldn't be arsed.
Aawwww, ain't he cute!!!!.. here's a picture of the repainted Dino (I've named him Clive) next to the original toy.
And finally a picture of the force so far, just some elite units and the force commander to do and the army will be done!.
As ever stay safe and make the best of the extra gaming time.....
That's right, we've all been sent denizens of the undead through the post!!. A while ago the legend known as Mr Maudlin Jack Tar offered me some 6mm undead minis that he had spare. Well today the post person of this fine parish delivered said walking dead. It always amazes me the camaraderie and generosity of the wargaming community but when I opened the package I have to say I was truly staggered!. Have a look at all this:
It's enough for an army with plenty left over!. When Jack asked if I wanted them I was expecting a few leftovers from a project not a whole force worth!. So a massive thank you to you sir, what an amazing gift, I just hope I can do them justice on the table!.
On another note the 6mm Slann are coming together nicely, here's a picture of the force so far
I love it when the Slann come together!!
Spawn bands
Palace guard
A hero and a mage to lead the (webbed) foot troops.
Telling some half orcs to hop it!.
That's all the basic foot troops done, it's on to the special stuff next. I'm using a mix of the first 3 editions Slann troop types, I have got an irregular miniatures Aztec army pack to build the army so I am shoe horning them all in as best I can!. I have to say the army has been great fun to put together so far and I am itching to get the rest done....more soon......
